ert were discharged from the army they decided to make their first home together in Dubuque, Iowa, in the house where Robert grew up. After having 2 sons and 3 daughters they built a new house at 220 N. Booth St. to accommodate their growing family. Nita was a wonderful wife and caring mother. She and Robert took their 5 children on many camping and fishing trips in the summer months and helped them with snowmen, snow angels and ice skating in the winter. Nita was fond of reading to all of them from the Books of Knowledge in the evenings after their homework was finished. She inspired the children with her artistic skills. As a member of a Dubuque art club she produced lovely figure drawings. She also loved painting landscapes and handmade greeting cards throughout her long life. Her flower gardens were always a thing of beauty as were her vegetable patches full of lettuce and tomatoes, herbs, spinach and green beans. On Saturday nights Robert and Nita often joined friends for dinner and ball room dancing or made an evening of playing euchre or other card games with family and friends. They also loved fishing and boating on the Mississippi River. Nita was a prolific correspondent who always made time for writing long, handwritten letters to old friends and her adult children who moved away from Dubuque. She wrote to her daughters once or twice a week for nearly 50 years. She somehow managed to do all of this at the same time she was caring for her aging mother, Rosalie Grant, and her in-laws, Joseph and Mary Erschen. Nita was a delightful person, full of fun and laughter. She always had a lot to say and plenty of energy to converse with everyone. She loved bird watching and fed the wild birds on a regular basis. Her back yard was full of birdseed and hummingbird feeders and, of course, birds. Nita was a devoted wife and mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt and friend to many. She was preceded in death by her parents, her in-laws and her husband Robert J. Erschen. She is survived by her five children: Olivia Erschen, Joseph R. Erschen, Joan Michele (Miki) Erschen, Janice Erschen and Edward Erschen. She also had 7 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. She was loved by many, including her devoted caregivers, and will be missed by all who knew her. Donations may be made in her name to the Dubuque Alzheimer's Association or the American Cancer Society. To read the full obituary, please click here: http://www.leonardfuneralhome.com/notices/Juanita-Erschen